When the new Kent venue at Central Park Stadium was finally given the “Go-ahead”, co-promoter Len Silver immediately considered that the rider whose contract he owns and who also lives close by in Canterbury would make an admirable Number One rider to become a locally born hero as a Kent King.

The rider in question was of course, Steve Boxall a successful member of the Championship winning Rye House team of 2007. Efforts to get together with Steve turned out to be impossible for one reason or another before Silver made his annual trip to the French Alps in late November, and that trip itself delayed proceedings even further.

Having had a short telephone conversation cut short by a flat battery in the mobile, the two finally got together last week. But Silver was in for a shock… he discovered that Steve having already had two unofficial bouts both of which he had won, was in serious training to become a professional boxer! That put a big dent in the idea of Steve making a track return following his retirement in 2012.

It was arranged for Steve to meet up with stadium owner and speedway promoter Roger Cearns together with Silver for a greyhound meeting on “Thursday’s regular “Curry Night”. The food went down well in more ways than one and Boxall ended the evening very impressed with the stadium and the shape of the new track, which is half-constructed.

By 10.00pm he had agreed to put his boxing career on hold, return to the shale and become a “King” for the season. “If all goes as well as it should”, he said, “I’ll forget about getting my head bashed in for money… on the other hand if I fail, I can still go back in the ring, but Speedway is better!”

So Steve Boxall joins skipper David Mason, teenager Ben Morley and raw recruit Connor Coles as the fourth member of the Kent side which takes to the track against the American Touring Team on Bank Holiday Monday May 6th at 3.00pm.